A large search operation involving elite forces, dogs, and helicopters was under way in France's southern Dordogne region on Sunday after a man was reported to have shot multiple times at police officers, local authorities said.
There were no reports of casualties.
"The man, a former member of the army, is armed and on the run as we speak [...] A police operation is taking place to avoid things getting out of control," the prefect of Dordogne, Frederic Perissat, told BFM television.
Perissat said:
The Dordogne prefecture on Twitter urged inhabitants of Le Lardin-Saint-Lazare to stay at home until further notice.
Perissat later told reporters the suspect, previously known to French authorities for violent incidents and recently released from prison, was localised in a 4-square-kilometre perimeter where negotiators were trying to make contact with him.